Leg attaching means for tables and furniture



Oct 39, 1952 J. COOPER 3,061,392

LEG ATTACHING MEANS FOR TABLES AND FURNITURE Filed Feb. 6. 1961 INVEN TOR.

United States Patent 3,061,392 LEG ATTACHING MEANS FOR TABLES AND FURNITURE Joseph Cooper, 10833 67th Ave., Forest Hills, N.Y. Filed Feb. 6, 1961, Ser. No. 87,154 1 Claim. (Cl. 311-110) The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and strong leg attaching means for furniture, as for example tables, which will hold the leg securely, and at the same time permitting easy assembly and disconnecting of the leg. A particular advantage of the invention is that table and other furniture may be shipped and also stored, in compact form, and thereafter assembled so simply that unskilled persons may readily effect the assembly. A characteristic of the invention is the employment of wedge elements, which may be driven in at any time to compensate for any occurring need for adjustment.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a composite view showing the upper portion of a furniture leg, with all the attaching elements (except screws) constituting the embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation showing one side of the table, broken away at its center, and with the attaching means of the invention, the latter having been enlarged for clarity of illustration.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the corner of a table with a leg attached thereto by means of the invention, the table and leg being broken away.

FIG. 4 is a composite perspective view, partly broken away, showing a further embodiment.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown at 1 a table top, the legs at one side thereof being indicated at 2, as to each leg.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, two especially formed brackets are employed for attachment to the under-side of a table top or other applicable furniture structure. The two are identical in formation. They may readily be made from formed-up steel plate, and are shown at 3. Each bracket is formed with a flanged top, apertured to receive screws for securing the bracket in position, two of these screws being shown at 4, FIG. 3. The lower marginal areas of side wall 3* of each bracket is bent upwardly and intermediate the bent upward area, it is formed with an open-end aperture at 6. A channel is provided inwardly of each bent-up area.

When the brackets 3 are attached to the underside of a table top, they are positioned to closely accommodate a leg 2. The leg is formed with a transverse aperture to receive a pin 7 of a length to project outwardly at opposite sides of the leg, and of a diameter, when the pin is round, to enter the slot 6 of each opposed bracket. The pin may be squared in cross-section, but I have found that the wedging effect thereon, now to be described, enables the use of a round cross-sectional pin.

When the leg 2 is positioned snugly between the two brackets with the projecting ends of the pin in the slots 6 of each bracket, the leg is wedged in position. This is accomplished by a wedge 8 for each bracket. The wedge in each case is a stiff steel blade having at least one tapered margin, and preferably formed with a head at 8*, provided by a right angle bend of the broad end of the wedge. Each wedge is passed under the projecting pin ends and into the channel provided by the bent up lower margins of the bracket, and then driven longitudinally by impact upon the head 8 until the leg is firmly secured in position by wedge action. To disassemble the leg, reverse impact upon the head 8*, as with an ordinary hammer, will retract the wedge, in each case.

In the construction of FIG. 1, the bracket is modified in that the side wall 9 of each bracket 9 is outwardly upset at its center area, and at each side of the said area there is formed a slot at 5. Also, intermediate the upset area, it is formed with an open-end aperture at 10. Each wedge is passed through theslots 5 and under the projecting pin ends, and then driven longitudinaliy by impact .upon the head 8 until the leg is firmly secured in position by wedge action.

It will be understood that modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of the elements, without departing from the invention. For example, the projecting ends of a single pin may be substituted by separate pins or screws carried by and projecting from the table leg, or by equivalent means adapted to be received in the aperture 6.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

In leg attaching means for furniture and in combination with a pin for passage through a leg near its upper end, the pin being of greater length than the area of the leg through which it passes, so that the pin is adapted to project outwardly at opposite sides of the leg, a bracket for each side of the leg and having two sections extending substantially at right angles to each other, the first section having an elongated transverse passageway in the form of an open slot adapted to receive said pin substantially inwardly of the lower edge of said section, an elongated channel way in said first section of the bracket and formed by bending upwardly the lower margin of the section, the slot extending through the said bent up margin and extending upwardly beyond the same at least the width of the pin, and a blade-like wedge adapted to enter said channelway below the inner end of said slot to engage the underside of the pin, the second section of the bracket having apertures to receive screwsfor horizontally attaching said bracket section to the underside of a furniture element projected outwardly of said leg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,620,248 Mutchnik Dec. 2, 1952 2,673,775 Silverman Mar. 30, 1954 2,801,144 Mutchnik July 30, 1957 2,871,077 Mutchnik Jan. 27, 1959 2,973,982 Elting et al. Mar. 7, 1961 

